Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

I finally played it this week as well. Feels more substantial that I thought it would feel. I am with you Joe..... Sounds good, especially the trem. One drawback is that when cranked it falls apart to my ears and ruins everything I had in my mind about how great this amp could be. It is way to brittle and raspy at jamming volumes.

If I needed a cool low volume clean amp with trem, this would be it. If I wanted to crank it with a band I would be crap outta luck with this amp.

I wonder if a speaker swap would help much???

You noticed the same thing I did about that imperfect breakup. This is what keeps the Excelsior from reaching the quality of tone that more expensive amps have when cranked up.

I actually liked the edge of breakup tones on the mic and accordion inputs better, because the gain structure was backed off a bit.

I want one of these amps, only because I know it's almost there, and a few tweaks will bring it all the way. Some pre tubes, maybe a new speaker, trem footswitch jack, and a few component changes that tailor the 3 inputs to perfection. This amp is bound to be a modder's dream.
It's such a cool amp for less than $300.

The 6V6's may be running cooler than they could too. I have no idea, but getting the power tubes running at the perfect current could clear up some of the crossover distortion we may be hearing as rattiness.

[indie folk guy]

Re: Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

You noticed the same thing I did about that imperfect breakup. This is what keeps the Excelsior from reaching the quality of tone that more expensive amps have when cranked up.

I actually liked the edge of breakup tones on the mic and accordion inputs better, because the gain structure was backed off a bit.

I want one of these amps, only because I know it's almost there, and a few tweaks will bring it all the way. Some pre tubes, maybe a new speaker, trem footswitch jack, and a few component changes that tailor the 3 inputs to perfection. This amp is bound to be a modder's dream.
It's such a cool amp for less than $300.

The 6V6's may be running cooler than they could too. I have no idea, but getting the power tubes running at the perfect current could clear up some of the crossover distortion we may be hearing as rattiness.

all good points now I need this thing in my clutches lol

[SoCalSteve]

Re: Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

That is a cool looking little amp! I'll wait 'til you guys do the mods (at least a speaker upgrade) and give the verdict before picking one up.

Couldn't help but notice the Excelsior logo looks just like the Mesa Stiletto logo.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

Couldn't help but notice the Excelsior logo looks just like the Mesa Stiletto logo.

And that could be the final mod - replacing the Excelsior logo with a Fender logo that covers the original holes.

[d1dsj]

Re: Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

What a cool looking little amp. I wonder if we'll even get them over here? I'd like to try one if we do.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

What a cool looking little amp. I wonder if we'll even get them over here? I'd like to try one if we do.

I'm sure they'll show up in the UK pretty shortly. If you got the Chinese Modern Players (which are great for the money), you'll be getting these too.

[indie folk guy]

Re: Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

I'd be surprised if Fender kept this little gem from the UK I think it's going to be a huge hit. Fender is pretty much king of cool inexpensive tube amps.

[Jeremiah]

Re: Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

Thomann in Germany already has them in stock for 269 euro, free shipping to the UK.

A number of UK dealers have them on preorder, but I don't know if there's anywhere here you could actually try one out yet.

Without having heard one, I still think they look good enough that if I had the money (and space,) I'd consider buying one and even if I hated it I could strip the guts out and just turn it into a 1x15 extension cab - it would probably be cheaper than getting a custom builder to build a cab like that.

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

I finally played it this week as well. Feels more substantial that I thought it would feel. I am with you Joe..... Sounds good, especially the trem.
One drawback is that when cranked it falls apart to my ears and ruins everything I had in my mind about how great this amp could be.
It is way to brittle and raspy at jamming volumes.

If I needed a cool low volume clean amp with trem, this would be it. If I wanted to crank it with a band I would be crap outta luck with this amp.

I wonder if a speaker swap would help much???

HUH ? . . . too brittle ?

Even on the Dark-setting ?


<---skip to 9m08sec

CRANKED, it does not sound too brittle on this clip. (...to my ears)

Did you experience it the same as in this clip ?

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

Fender is going to sell a mountain of these things.

Hipsters/indie rockers will love it because it's a simple retro-looking-and-sounding amp.

Gearheads will love it because it's cheap and they'll want to mod it endlessly (a la Valve Jr).

Not just Hipesters/Indie kids (although i can see them flocking to this amp, once word gets out that it is "cool in their wold")

But also folks (like me) who like this type of stuff will be drawn to this sleazy sounding greasy dirty-shirt rock tone :

[guitfiddle]

Re: Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

That slight bit of rattiness could have an amazing ability to cut through onstage. Some of the very best stage tones I've ever gotten just don't sound great when played with no other instruments.

[Gunny47]

Re: Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

That slight bit of rattiness could have an amazing ability to cut through onstage. Some of the very best stage tones I've ever gotten just don't sound great when played with no other instruments.

this

further data: check out EVH or James Jamerson (or any other great musician) isolated tracks. Very interesting stuff
------------
Back to thread: Thanks for the review - sounds cool. I will definitely try one soon. Saw one in the store, but didn't get to play it. I thought that the amp looked like it was trying way too hard to be hip/vintage/old school/whatever, but if the tone is sick, it would be worth having.

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

this

further data: check out EVH or James Jamerson (or any other great musician) isolated tracks. Very interesting stuff
------------
Back to thread: Thanks for the review - sounds cool. I will definitely try one soon. Saw one in the store, but didn't get to play it. I thought that the amp looked like it was trying way too hard to be hip/vintage/old school/whatever, but if the tone is sick, it would be worth having.

[ratherdashing]

Re: Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

Rob DeLeo is a criminally underrated bassist.

[IM4Tone]

Re: Finally tried the Fender Excelsior

I've added the 500k ohm pot in place of the dark/bright switch.....ridiculously easy to do and if you're like me- the darks are too dark and the brights too bright- that's corrected! Less than $2 for the pot and 3 matching Fender knobs for $1.50 ea.

Replaced the stock speaker w/ an Eminence Legend 1518 and that's a huge change; volume gets a major, and I mean major, boost. The extreme, somewhat harsh, raspiness is gone yet it retains just enough edginess to still appeal.

Only negative is it went from light, grab and go status, to somewhat heavy for it's size. I don't have an accurate scale, but I weighed it on the bathroom scale which read 43# (stock is advertised at 33#). I still find that hard to believe, but when I first grabbed the handle to lift it, there was no question it gained considerable weight...I had estimated to be 5-8#s. I can live with that negative in light of the positives.

If you watch billm's video (before and after) it is "spot on" even though you can't hear the volume increase due to recording device compression.

Maybe down the road, I'd like to put a footswitch on the tremelo for on/off.